kabob

today, on our last day in lima, the sun came out. before coming to peru i checked the temperature, everyday it said "overcast and 18 degrees". i thought perhaps they neglected to update the weather, but it turns out it really is overcast every day. not in cuzco though, the sky was deep blue and cloudy there. regardless, we've had a great time in lima. the whole trip has been a fantastic success, and i'm so grateful and DON'T want to go back to work :S

ok, so more about the trek. i can't remember what i've said or not said. after my entry the other day i kept saying to jill "oh, i forgot to say this, or that", and now i can't remember...

as we walked the inca trail there were porters who would carry our supplies from camp to camp. these men were not only unbelievable in their speed (they'd leave camp after us, and arrive long before us), they also had to carry large packs on their backs - sometimes wearing a weightlifting belt, and other times the packs were just strapped onto them with fabric like a baby-sling. and to top it all off, the all mostly wore leather sandles!!!! they were unbelievable men. indigieous mostly, they all spoke spanish but they were obviously decendants of the inca and not the spanish. the peruvians of inca decent are all quite short, some of the women are seriously no larger than 4 foot tall. they also have darker skin than the spanish decendants. there is an obvious difference between the people who live in lima and the people who live in cuzco. the women in the highlands of cuzco mostly wore traditional garb, and had their hair tied back in long braids - like this. a lot of the porters were clothes only had of organic materials.

the view on the inca trail was unbelievable. the terrain changed as the days went by, from desert-like with cacti, then at the end of the trek we were in jungle surroundings with bamboo. it was very cool.

on our last day we arrived at machu picchu, coming in thru the sungate the inca city was deceivingly small. we were tired and dirty, and sadly lacked the energy to be as excited as meritted. walking for 4 days, up and down stairs had left us sore and exhausted. however, we enjoyed our tour of machu picchu. giant ear (jiar) guided us around explaining all the ruins, then we had an hour to waunder around on our own. the rest of our group bolted, and went with him to the closest town instead of revelling the beauty of the lost incan city. despite that, jill and i stuck around, we sat doing nothing for a long time, they walked around a little before catching the bus down the long winding road to join the rest of the group at the designated meeting spot. my only disappointment was that machu picchu was majorly packed with people (often has 1000 visitors a day, but we were there on a sunday which is the day that it's free for locals, so it was extra busy), and i forgot to do my sun-salutations as planned :S

we ate very well on the trek, and thankfully my bladder held-out and i didn't have to go as frequently as usual. we drank A LOT of tea, whatshisface the guide said that coca tea helps with the digestion.

anyways, i've tell you more in the coming days. we fly out tonight at midnight. we're gonna go hangout by the ocean again for a little while. and try to be inconspicuous - we don't like it when locals try to pressure us into taking surfing lessons.

ok, i'm off. see you all soon. i love peru, and i love being away from home and work, but it will be nice to see you all. much love.

i'm a model if you know what i mean.